Peer Support Worker | South West London and St George's Mental Health NHS Trust

We are looking for a person who is passionate about working with a range of patients who experience eating disorders, some of whom are difficult to engage. The post is part‐time (22.5 hours per week). The role involves a range of supportive tasks including direct clinical contact with service users, co‐facilitating groups, and offering support and motivation to patients on their recovery journey.

Key requirements:

• Personal lived experience of an eating disorder from which you have recovered.
• Good organisational skills, creative thinking, and problem‐solving ability.
• Teamwork and passion for the service.

Responsibilities:

• Work with the multi‐disciplinary team to provide additional support to people with eating disorders using the principles and values of peer support.
• Deliver time‐limited, outcome‐focused interventions individually or via groups that build on patients' existing resources and personal resiliencies.
• Assume a 'coaching' role supporting service users in developing personal recovery and/or Crisis & Contingency plans.
• Assist service users to identify their strengths, personal interests and goals.
• Provide opportunities for service users to direct their own recovery process.
• Facilitate the individual to move through and beyond mental health services.
• Model and mentor a recovery process and demonstrate coping skills, using own experience of recovery.
• Act as a role model to service users to inspire hope, share life experiences and lessons learned as a person in recovery.
• Signpost and support access to culturally appropriate services that support mental wellbeing in the community, including social care, welfare benefits and housing support.
• Support service users in attending appointments, therapeutic or social community‐based activities as appropriate to enable them to manage in the absence of peer support in the future.
• Support services who might be interested in developing professionally within the peer support field, by identifying their needs and facilitating access to vocational, professional and training opportunities.
• Work independently following all lone‐working, safeguarding and other relevant policies in order to maintain personal safety and the safety of people accessing services, their carers, friends and families, and the public.
• Raise the profile of the lived experience workforce at SWLStG.
• Develop and maintain effective monitoring and reporting processes that clarify the value of peer support alongside clinical roles and the impact of delivered interventions.
• Continue the development and implementation of existing peer support interventions or plan and deliver new peer support work, both in theory and practice.

Location: The post will be based at Springfield Hospital. The role requires occasional face‐to‐face sessions and the ability to travel to our main base at Springfield and other Trust and community locations.

Benefits:

• Flexible working.
• Career development and a robust induction programme.
• Excellent supervision and support from our Involvement Team.
• Monthly in‐house CPD meetings and joint working opportunities.